Bathing cap



L. W. BEMAN BATHING CAP Fim Agril so, 1924 Patented Dec. 23, 1924.

UNITED STATES LYNN W. BEIVIAN, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

B ATHING CAP; ,.1

Application filed April 30, 19,24, SerialiNo. 709,997.

T 0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, LYNN IV. BEMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ghicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Bathing Caps, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to elastic head caps commonly used by bathers andthe like, to keep the head dry in the presence of water or other liquid.Caps of this order are very common on the market, designed to bestretched over the head, under the theory that the tension of the borderof the cap, usually located at the hair line, as shown in Figure 1 ofthe drawings, willvbe suflicient to make a liquid tightcontact betweenthe cap and head so that, water or other liquid in which the head ismore or less immersed will not creep up under the cap. As a matter offact, this theory does not work in,

practice in all instances, and the object of this invention is toprovide a partial vacuum inside the cap between it and the head of thewearer which will cause the cap, particularly at the edges, to draw downagainst the head suiiciently tight so that no liquid can pass from theoutside under the border of the cap into contact with that portion ofthe head covered by the cap.

The invention consists in means for attaining the foregoing and otherobjects; which can be easily and cheaply made; which is satisfactory inuse and is not readily liable to get out of order.

More particularly, the invention consists in a vacuum creating devicemade as a unit with the cap, capable of creating the neeessary vacuuminside the cap. Still more specilically, the invention consists in thevalve mechanism used in the vacuum creating pump or apparatus abovereferred to.

The invention further consists in numerous features and details ofconstruction which will be hereafter more fully set forth in thespecification and claims.

Referring to the drawings in which like parts are designated by thesaine numerals throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cap of this invention, applied tothe head of a bather or the like.

Figure 2 is a sectional, detail view through the vacuum creatingapparatus of this invention.

Figure'k 3 is a perspective view of the valve mechanism.

In carrying out thisinvention, the elastic or otherl material cap 10,applicable to the head ofthe user 12, does not dider in con5 structionlor appearance from ordinary bathing caps now on the market except thatprovided with air air port20 inthe surfaceL of member 14 and with an airport 22 in that portion of the material of cap 10 which is covered bymember 14. Both of these ports 2O and 22 have applied to themindependent valve mechanisms of any suitable construction which willoperate as member 14 is compressed and released, as here-- afterdescribed, tosuck air from the space between the head of the wearer andcap 10 into vacuum space 16 and thence deliver it through port 2() tothe open air. In the at a convenient point-usually but not necparticularcase here illustrated, the two` valves 24 and 26 are identical, beingmerelj,7 sheets of suitable material, more or less elastic, placed overthe adjacent port and attached at the corners 28 by glue or vulcanizing,as may be desired. The corner fastenings 28 of these valve plates are soarranged that when air is passed upward through either port 22 or 26, itcan lift the valve plate and pass out through the space 30 over theadjacent wall port-ion of members 10 or 14, as the case may be, andthat, under other conditions, the pressure of air on top of the valveplate forces it down onto the adjacent port 20 or 22, thus closing it.

In the operation of the device, the bather applies the cap to the headexactly like any other conventional bathing cap; for instance, as shownin Figure 1. Under this condition of application, there is a certainquantity of atmospheric air inside the cap 10 between it and the bathershead. The

user now places a hand upon the exterior of semi-spherical member 14 andpresses upon it. This action causes valve 24 toautomatically close andair within chamber 16 to be expelled through port 20 under valve 26.When this operation has gone far enough, the operator removes the handfrom pressure on member 14 whereupon the elasticity of the wall of thismember causes the parts to return to the normal position of lFigure 2 inwhich condition the atmospheric air outside the device holds valve 26closed, with the result that the vacuum thus created within chamber 16causes air between the cap and the head of the user to be drawn throughp ort 22 under valve 24 into chamber 16. r'lfhis withdrawing air frominside the cap 10 creates a partial vacuurn in the space between the capand head of the user with the result that the lower. border 32 of thecap is sucked tightly against the head 12 of the user. The operator maypress upon and release the semikspherical wall 14 as many successivetimes as are found necessary or desirable to create sufficient vacuuminside the cap 10 and adjacentA to the headj of the user to satisfy theconvenience and comfort ofthe user.

The vacuum created by this mechanism inside the cap 10 is not sufficientto interfere with the users peeling the cap off from the head in theordinary way when it is desired t0 remove the cap.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a bathing cap of ieXible material for apersons head, the cap equipped at the top of the head with asemi-spherical member 14 a vacuum chamber between it and the cap, therebeing through the cap and semispherical member ports 22 and 2O closed byvalves 24 and 26, all the parts being arranged and disposed as shown anddescribed, for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination with a bathing cap having flexible edge portions, o-fa pump device for exhausting air from said cap therebyl to cause theflexible edge portion thereof to lit snugly in Water tight engagementlwith a persons head, said pump device consisting of a compressiblemember attached directly to the cap and cooperating With the latter toform a vacuum cham- I ber, and valve connections between said vacuumchamber and the interior of the cap and the atmosphere, respectively.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

LYNN W. BEMAN.

